McArdle Sets Two St. John's Records in Outburst

QUEENS, N.Y. -- As the snow started to fall, a
flurry of St. John's goals separated the Red Storm from Rutgers in
a 20-13 victory Saturday.

The 20 goals were the most for St. John's in a game since the
program was reinstated in 2005. The last 20-goal game for St.
John's came on March 22, 1995 against Marist in a 20-9 victory.

Kieran McArdle continued to build his Tewaaraton argument with a
career-high 12 points with five goals and seven assists. It was the
highest single-game point total in the history of the St. John's
lacrosse program topping Mike Bolger's 10-point effort against
Vermont on May 2, 1987. McArdle passed Chris Johnston on the
all-time points list at St. John's with 139 for his career. The
junior has 17 goals and 23 assists on the season.

Kevin Cernuto scored five goals to set a career-high and also
added two assists. Colin Keegan finished with his third hat trick
of the season. In the midfield, Connor Mullen, Ryan Fitzgerald and
James Bonanno all finished with two goals apiece.

Goalie Jeff Lowman held the fort on the defensive end with a 17
saves in three-plus quarters of work, allowing just seven goals.
Dillon Ayers picked up five groundballs while Drew Viscusi came
away with four in the defensive zone.

It was the fourth-straight victory for St. John's over the
Scarlet Knights and the first home victory since March 31, 2007.
Rutgers got on the board first with a Steve DiGiovanni goal but St.
John's would rebound with goals from Fitzgerald and Keegan. A pair
of Scarlet Knight goals by Rich Rambo and Ryan Scott to end the
first period gave Rutgers a 3-2 lead heading into intermission.The
Red Storm seized control with a 7-1 advantage in the second quarter
as Cernuto opened the scoring followed by two-straight finishes
from McArdle. Keegan put away a McArdle feed followed by Bonanno's
first score of the day. Scott Bieda broke up the scoring for
Rutgers to make it 7-4, but scores from Cernuto and Mullen ended
the period for the Red Storm. St. John's took a 9-4 lead into the
locker room as the snow really began to fall.

The snow failed to cool down the Red Storm offense; however, as
St. John's responded with another seven-goal quarter in the third.
McArdle opened the scoring followed by a Cernuto goal on the man-up
to push it 11-4 with 13:16 left in the quarter. McArdle found the
net once again off a feed from Cernuto to extend the lead to 12-4.
Bieda ended the run for a second time with a goal to cut the lead
to 12-5. Cernuto fired back on the ensuing faceoff off an assist
from Jordan Rothman before Anthony Terranova scored just seconds
later. Alex Lagodich got into the mix with 8:00 remaining in the
third for his seventh goal of the season. Cernuto scored unassisted
to bring the lead to 15-6. Rutgers' leading goal scorer, Scott
Klimchak tallied his only goal of the day late in the third before
Fitzgerald scored his second of the day to end the third quarter
16-7.

Mullen opened the fourth with an unassisted goal, which was
followed by scores from McArdle and Keegan before the starters
exited for the day. St. John's led 19-7 with 10:15 to play in the
game. Rutgers rattled off six goals in the final 6:44 of play as
Bonanno added one more for St. John's. The Red Storm closed out the
20-13 victory to improve to 2-1 at home on the season.